Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Alex Criville By Dennis Noyes Photos by Gold & qoose or the past five years, Spaniard Alex CriviIle (pronounced Cree-vee-yay, with the accent on the third syllable which rhymes with "pay") has been the second most successful rider in the premier 500cc class of Grand Prix racing. If you listen closely to the cheers in the background on the Grand Prix telecasts from Spain, you can hear the huge .I' 32 crowds chanting "Cree-vee-yay! Cree-vee-yay!" He comes from a country where GP motorcycle racing outdraws Formula One by a huge margin in not only spectator attendance, but also in television coverage and general popularity. His name is a household word, on par with the names of Spain's top soccer players, bullfighters and tennis players. When you talk about Alex Criville in Spain, it is like talking about Mark McGwire or Sammy Sosa in the U.S.A. If the quiet and incredibly intense 29-year-old from the northern mountain town of Seva (in the semi- autonomous Barcelona region) manages to win the 500cc World Championship, his name will take on an almost Jordanesque resonance in the planet's most rabid motorcycling nation. CrivilJe still lives in his hometown of Seva and is accompanied to the Grands Prix by his girlfriend, Ana Nogue. The only real trophy of his success is a big, red Ferrari that he rarely drives. His hobbies are trials riding and horseback riding. In addition to a rigid workout schedule, he also frequently trains at the Kenny Roberts Training Ranch at the Circuit of Catalunya. When he is at the races, he is either in his motorhome or in his pit working with crew chief Giles Biggot a]ld the rest of his close-knit Repsol Honda team. He is constantly besieged by the Spanish press corps, but his answers. to their questions are usually so guarded as to make for poor copy. Shortly after his win in Mugello, I heard a Spanish reporter ask him: "Alex, did. you feel going into the last lap that this was your race to win and that you felt that you had to beat Biaggi at home to show him that you were the new 'jefe' ('boss') in 500? Did you say to your. self when you went into that last comer, 'Max, if you don't leave the door open, I'm going to kick it open?'" To whkh he replied, rubbing his chin and looking toward the ceiling of the media center, considering the question carefully, ~'Si." You can imagine how exciting the story was in the Barcelona papers. Before you jump to the wrong conclusion about Spanish journalism, I add that all of us in the Spanish press (myself included; I lived in Spain for 27 years and still spend half the year there) are so·in tune with our riders, and with what they feel, that we are expected and in some way truly "autl10rized" by the riders themselves to act not as stenographers but as spokesmen for the quiet and very serious men who race Grand Prix motorcycles under Spanish license. There could never be a rider in Spain with the personality of a Max Biaggi, because Spain would not have it. There could never be a Spanish Valentino Rossi, dressing up like Robin Hood or taking The Famous Chicken for a ride on the victory lap. The Spanish enjoy Biaggi for the Roman that he is, and they love Rossi, the paddock brat who is becoming a charming young superstar. The Spanish people love to hear the American riders talk about ''backin' it in," "pushing the front" .and "spinnin' it up," and to read Mick Doohan's amusing opinions of Baiggi, but there is an unwritten code of conduct for Spanish riders which requires a severe bearing and few, carefully chosen words. So this interview took a little more time, and a tape recorder. . A question that Criville has been asked repeatedly since Mick Doohan's big crash during qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix in early May is how he feels about being under the pressure of being the championship leader. Speaking in Spanish in the quiet of his huge bluegrey motorhome in the Mugello paddock following his third straight win of the season, Criville smiled, looked at the ceiling while rubbing the underside of his chin with the first knuckle of his left hand, and said, "That's a question that is hard to answer without sounding like I am dismissing my rivals, whkh I am not, but the answer is simple. For the last five years, since 1994, I have shared a garage with Mick Doohan and because of that I have had big pressure from up close. I respect all my rivals, and coming into this race I was more worried about Kenny Roberts than about Max Biaggi, but today it was Biaggi who pushed me. Sure, there is pressure for the rider who leads the championship and pressure on the rider who leads the works HRC team, but for me, the real pressure carne from Mkk Doohan. Racing is really about living with pressure, and if you are a teammate to the best rider in the world, you either accept your place as number two or you set your sights on him and pressure yourself to beat him. In the beginning,

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